Singer Kelly Clarkson’s long-awaited and well-publicized visit, scheduled for this weekend, has been canceled at the last minute. Clarkson was scheduled to appear on Shabbat and Sunday in Tel Aviv, and tickets were sold out within four days after the concerts were announced.

Clarkson, currently on a worldwide tour, said she canceled her appearances because her schedule was too full. Her appearances in Israel were supposed to be the last in her European tour. Clarkson, her family, and her entourage will return soon to the United States.

The announcement was hardly a surprise: two weeks ago the concerts were postponed by two days, yesterday her meetings with Israeli journalists were canceled, and no meetings with fans were scheduled.

Throat infection

According to a statement by Ran Rahav, spokesman for Partner Communications, “the singer’s producers told producer Shuki Weiss last night

that she is being forced to cancel her performances in Israel because of a throat infection. Clarkson, who has had the infection for a number of days and previously canceled her appearance in Paris, recovered and managed to hold a short concert last night in Berlin, but when the concert ended her personal doctors ordered her to stop singing completely because the infection in her throat was getting worse.”

Shuki Weiss, producer of Clarkson’s Israel concerts, apologized for canceling her appearances, and said they would try to reschedule an appearance in Israel.

Money paid for tickets will be refunded in full through the credit card companies. For more information call *5050.